The Distinctiveness of Religious Liberty
Muñiz-Fraticelli, Víctor M. "The Distinctiveness of Religious Liberty." In Mapping the Legal Boundaries of Belonging: Religion and Multiculturalism from Israel to Canada, edited by Rene Provost. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.
28 Pages
Posted: 4 Sep 2011
Last revised: 8 Dec 2015
McGill University, Faculty of Law; McGill University, Department of Political Science
Date Written: July 29, 2011
Abstract
The model of religious freedom in diverse liberal-democracies has been mistakenly incorporated into the multicultural paradigm. The wholesale incorporation of the religious liberty paradigm into the multicultural paradigm is an institutional, historical, and conceptual mistake, and it distorts our understanding of the institutions that enshrine religious liberty and underlie our justification of them. The Western paradigm of religious liberty is a complex product of diverse historical conflicts and political traditions, and only contingently overlaps the multicultural argument. The purpose of this essay is to differentiate religious liberty from multiculturalism as theoretical categories, and to at least identify some of the consequences of this differentiation.
Keywords: religion, freedom, religious liberty, church, multiculturalism
Suggested Citation:
Suggested Citation
Muniz-Fraticelli, Victor M., The Distinctiveness of Religious Liberty (July 29, 2011). Muñiz-Fraticelli, Víctor M. "The Distinctiveness of Religious Liberty." In Mapping the Legal Boundaries of Belonging: Religion and Multiculturalism from Israel to Canada, edited by Rene Provost. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1921646 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1921646
